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17 March 2011

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WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center to Provide Mediation Service for Creative Barcode� Disputes

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) will provide its mediation service for registered Creative Barcode® members operating under the Trust Charter Agreement, who allege that their concepts, disclosed to a third party in business development activities, have been used without permission.

Launched in September 2010, Creative Barcode® is a mechanism which aims to facilitate safe disclosure of creative concepts, proposals and ideas in pursuit of business deals, pre-contract, including pitches, tenders and concept licensing. Creative Barcode® works on the basis of a trust agreement with permission-based usage terms and ownership identifier.

Used by business and creative professionals, Creative Barcode® provides a software application that enables members to generate a barcode and apply it to their creative concepts and proposals before disclosing them to third parties. Creative Barcode® is underpinned by a Trust Charter Agreement. There is no complex paperwork. Barcode it and Share it.

Erik Wilbers, Director of the WIPO Center, comments“The WIPO mediation service will provide Creative Barcode® members with a time and cost efficient alternative to court litigation. Where creative people find that their work covered by a Creative Barcode®has been misappropriated, it is hoped that mediation can bring the parties together in a solution that meets all legitimate business interests”.

Creative Barcode® upholds the value of members’ creativity, skill, knowledge, experience, time and money vested in written and visual proposals. It equally respects and safeguards the intellectual property position of the parties receiving members’ barcoded files.

Creative Barcode® has been hailed as an innovative breakthrough to support the growth of the fee-for-services creative industries whilst responding to the digital age, co-creation, and a climate of more open innovation activity.

There are over 300,000 freelance operatives and estimate 30,000 micro and SME business operating in the creative industries in the UK alone.

“Creative Barcode® aims to create a critical mass, operating under safe and ethical trading terms, to support the creative industries’ continued economic and societal participation in the progression of innovation, digital content and creative solutions” says Maxine Horn, CEO

Creative Barcode® has also been positively cited in submissions to the Hargreaves IP Review including amongst others, the Law Society.

There is a growing recognition that creative industry including freelance operatives, micro and SME firms, who operate on both a fee-for-services basis, as well as own IP generation are exceptionally vulnerable, pre-contract where disclosure of in-depth proposals is a necessary part of new business activity. Barcoded files supported by the mutually beneficial trust agreement can enable safe disclosure for creators and those who seek to engage them.

Developed by leading experts in cross-border dispute settlement, the procedures offered by the WIPO Center are widely recognized as particularly appropriate for creative industries, technology and other disputes involving intellectual property.

Creative Barcode® was launched in September 2010. It was created by a team of UK designers, developers and innovators to provide their peers with a means to establish better working relationships and trading terms when disclosing conceptual works to third parties. It is a not for profit organisation with no government funding.

Creative Barcode® is a mechanism that enables disclosure of creative solutions, proposals, concepts and ideas in confidence.

Used by business and creative professionals Creative Barcode® provides a software Application that enables members to generate a barcode and apply it their creative concepts and proposals before disclosing them to third parties. Creative Barcode® is underpinned by a mutually agreed Trust Charter Agreement. There is no complex paperwork. Barcode it and Share it.

Creative Barcode® upholds the value of members’ creativity, skill, knowledge, experience, time and money vested in written and visual proposals. It equally respects and safeguards the IP position of the parties receiving members’ barcoded files.